Expert authority manufacturing consensus made austerity appear objectively rational
Evidence
Such a frontal attack on labor— one that would slash social resources and wages and especially kill visions of an alternative society— required a sturdy justifi cation. Th e authority of the experts provided a channel to build consensus for a truth that, even if hard and painful, was “universal” and “objective,” and thus had to be swallowed. For these technocrats, austerity’s rationality was synonymous with rationality itself, because they held that the capitalist order was the only order possible. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 666
Categorization
- XREF: The claim that technocratic authority renders class-interest policy ‘objective’ anticipates the same rhetorical move in modern fiscal-council and IMF conditionality discourse. — connects to: International economic conference ‘consensus’ was really a consensus on austerity — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 672; Austerity-bred consensus sustains further austerity in a self-reinforcing loop — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 235; Modern austerity requires managing public opinion through consensus and coercion combined — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 818 (+8 more)
Broader Connections
- Technical rationality makes irrational social control appear reasonable and rational
#corroborates(0.90) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 124 - Interwar experts sold austerity as objective science concealing true economic facts from the people
#exemplifies(0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 744 - International economic conference ‘consensus’ was really a consensus on austerity
#expands(0.82) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 672 - Economic theory gives austerity legitimacy that complements raw state coercion
#corroborates(0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 861 - The ECB justified austerity through rational-expectations Ricardian consumer theory
#exemplifies(0.80) — Mark Blyth, Austerity, 174 - Austerity experts sought to reimpose a top-down technocratic conception of knowledge
#exemplifies(0.78) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 580 - Austerity-bred consensus sustains further austerity in a self-reinforcing loop
#expands(0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 235 - Manufactured doubt need not be consciously willed to paralyze economic reform
#expands(0.75) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 670 - Governments conflate capitalist economic rationality with rationality itself.
#expands(0.74) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 369 - Modern austerity requires managing public opinion through consensus and coercion combined
#expands(0.72) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 818